The imposition of Canon 15 “comes with regret after many years of dispute with the clergy and lay leadership of these two parishes,” said Dean Elliott. “The clergy in both parishes have relinquished their licenses as priests of the diocese and their orders within the Anglican Church of Canada. In our polity, a parish is a creation of the diocese.”
He added that parish properties “are entrusted to clergy, licensed by the diocesan bishop, to offer the ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada.” Therefore, he added, “loyalty to the bishop is a key part of the oaths that clergy make at ordinations and inductions.” Since he said clergy no longer hold the bishop’s licence, the diocese is “legally required to ensure that the authorized ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada continues in those places,” added Dean Elliott.
ANiC Chancellor Cheryl Chang, however, insisted that “whether the diocese of New Westminster has the right to unilaterally replace these duly elected trustees and move to seize control of the parishes’ assets is in dispute.”
In a press statement, she said that “the elected trustees of the parish believe the parish properties are held in trust for the benefit of the current congregation who have paid for and maintained these properties, and who are upholding traditional Anglican ministry in accordance with the founding principles of the Anglican Church of Canada (contained in the Solemn Declaration 1893), and the current doctrine of the global Anglican Communion.”
And the mean spirited imposition of Canons over Christian charity continues.
In the Church of England and many Anglican provinces clergy must be licensed by the diocesan bishop to officiate. That was the pattern in the American CofE congregations from 1607-1783. Though the colonies were part of the royal ecclesiastical prerogative and not part of any CofE diocese – though the Bishop of London by custom or by letters patent took order for ordinations and licenses – the state conventions of clergy and lay people set up a system of canonical residence by which any clergyman who was a member of convention could officiate anywhere in the state – or diocese.
Later diocesan canons assigned to the diocesan bishop the right to approve of any regular place of worship.
Obviously coming before loyalty to the faith given once for all to the saints or loyalty to the one God and to the namesake of their supposed religion, Christ. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not follow My commandments?”
Then let the diocese build the buildings, do the maintenance etc and hold the deed.
Indeed:
“whether the diocese of New Westminster has the right to unilaterally replace these duly elected trustees and move to seize control of the parishes’ assets is in dispute.â€
is the crux of this issue now. Given ACC’s legal status, I would be pessimistic wrt the ANiC’s question.